PirithousHippodamiaWeddingANCIENT_Parthenon

PirithousHippodamiaWeddingANCIENT_Parthenon

OGCMA s.v. "Pirithous, Wedding of P. and Hippodamia"
Ovid Met.12.393-430

Metope panels of the Parthenon depict in high relief the Lapithocentauromachy, the Athenian Parthenon (dedicated 438 BC); British Museum, Duveen Gallery.

A variegated elaboration of the Classical Style, the riotous behavior of unruly centaurs brawling among the Lapith wedding guests at the nuptials of Pirithous and Hippodamia depicts a standard setpiece of archaic mythology. The centaurs try to abduct the wives of the Lapiths, sometimes taking sometimes giving brutal punishment to the Lapiths who heroically try to resist.

Narrative gain: Theseus played a big role in defeating the Centaurs at the wedding. The depiction of Athenians' favorite makes some sense in this context. However, Greeks, who liked thinking in binary pairs, seem to have fostered the contrast between Athena's right-ness vs the unruliness of the Lapithocentauromachy.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300 - 1990's, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.